I consider myself something of an enthusiastic reader of P.J. O'Rourke. Actually, "hopeless fangirl" would be closer to the truth. There's not a book of his I haven't read two or three times, and I've read Republican Party Reptile, Holidays In Hell, Parliament Of Whores, and Give War A Chance so many times that I have inadvertently memorized vast swathes.
I have to say that Parliament Of Whores is probably the funniest, though. Last week, when my roomie was working the wee-dark-thirty shift to cover for a vacationing cow-orker, the alarm went off at midnight. This meant that one day last week I was sitting on the porch at, oh, six o'clock in the A.M., complete with all my porch-sitting accoutrement, and trying (with only moderate success) to stifle big girly squeals of laughter while reading a description of the S&L crisis.
I mentioned this to RobertaX, saying "I didn't want anybody to see me sitting there reading a book and drinking a beer at six in the morning."
To which she replied "This is Broad Ripple. You'll have to work a lot harder than that if you want to be weird."
P.J. O'Rourke is also the principal author of the National Lampoon 1964 High School Yearbook parody, along with Doug Kenney (who played Stork in "Animal House").
ReplyDeleteWarm Beer and cold pizza, the breakfast of champions.
ReplyDeleteWhen you've been up since midnight, 6AM is actually a little after lunch.
ReplyDeleteMy internal clock is screwed for the next two weeks.
At first I thought "Broad Ripple" meant beer for women. Red Ripple used to be a brand of cheap wine. Does it even exist anymore?
ReplyDeleteI credit P.J., along with a later injection of Florence King, with making it completely impossible for me to go through a flaming liberal phase- at least not with a straight face. He got his hooks into me when I was twelve or so, and that was all she wrote.
ReplyDeleteNo more Ripple
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bumwine.com/others.html
Tam,
ReplyDeleteUnless it's changed drastically in the past 5 years since I left Indy, you have a long way to go in Broad Ripple to even get close to wierd.
Don Fom Knoxville
There really aren't that many freaks in Broad Ripple anymore. It's certainly not the place it was 30 years ago. For one thing, there isn't a buttload of dirty drugged-up hippies wandering around it anymore.
ReplyDeleteNow it's just drunk yuppies. Which is almost as bad.
so, i take it that Broad Ripple is like Little Five in Atlanta, eh, Tam?
ReplyDeleteand what is the 6AM Tam beer recommendation? (in case I get a hankering)
ReplyDeleteDo I even dare ask, what is a "cow-orker"? Can you ork other domesticated animals? Are cows made into hamburger after being orked?
ReplyDeleteBob,
ReplyDeleteIt's probably something that Mork was doing since he was from Ork. Probably having something to do with eggs.....
;-)
(Yep, showing my age.)